Kevin Kroskey's Ohio Faculty Advisor

( The text below is reprinted from the news release by STRS on   3/21/2014.)   Retirement Board Takes Action to Improve Pension Funding At the March meeting of the State Teachers Retirement Board, the board took action to reduce the amortization period for the pension fund, voting unanimously to discontinue the current allocation to the Health Care Fund of 1% of the 14% employer contribution beginning   July 1, 2014 . This decision follows discussion that began at the Board Retreat in January and continued at subsequent board meetings. The Segal Company, STRS Ohio’s actuarial consultant, projects this change, coupled with smoothed gains from strong investment returns, will result in an amortization period of about 32 years. That puts STRS Ohio on track to reach a 30-year amortization period by 2016 — the time frame that was projected when pension reform legislation was passed in 2012. Ohio retirement systems are required by law to amortize unfunded liabi...

( The text below is reprinted from the news release by STRS.)   Retirement Board Will Continue to Share Potential Funding Improvements With Stakeholders At its February meeting, the State Teachers Retirement Board reviewed several options to reduce the amortization period for the pension fund and agreed that STRS Ohio will continue to involve stakeholders in the process of considering plan revisions. STRS Ohio is required by law to amortize its unfunded liabilities over a period of not more than 30 years. Since STRS Ohio’s current funding period is 40.2 years, the system is required to submit a board-approved plan to the Legislature to reduce the funding period to 30 years. The plan was submitted on Feb. 21.   The plan reviewed the significant impact that pension reform legislation had on the pension fund. STRS Ohio’s July 1, 2013 pension valuation shows pension reform reduced STRS Ohio’s unfunded liabilities by $15.7 billion and improved the system’s funded ratio...